(Paris) Western stock markets are moving in the green on Monday, with a still reduced agenda for investors before new inflation data in the United States on Wednesday and the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday.

Paris closed up 0.52%, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange gained 0.39% and London advanced 0.25%.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones gained 0.15%, the broader S index

The indices experienced a session on Monday whose macroeconomic agenda was without a major economic meeting, being rather wait-and-see before a salvo of publications later in the week.

In the United States, the CPI price index for August will be published on Wednesday, retail sales are expected on Thursday as well as the latest edition of the consumer sentiment survey published by the University of Michigan.

“In general, fears around China continue to weigh quite heavily on the market. Since the end of July, the country has been trying to revive its economy through small measures deemed insufficient by investors, believes Charles de Riedmatten, equity manager at Myria AM.

“And then the second fear concerns inflation in Europe which remains high while we await the decision of the European Central Bank on Thursday,” continues the analyst.

The European monetary institution – just like the Federal Reserve (Fed), its American counterpart, later in September – will have to choose between raising its rates for the tenth time in a row or taking a break, with a disappointing inflation trajectory and a gloomy situation.

“The fear is that central banks will be too restrictive and that they will dry up all sectors of the economy”, comments Charles de Riedmatten, recalling that “the impact of a rise in rates takes between 12 and 18 months to spread through the economy”.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba dropped 1.55% in New York after announcing that its former CEO Daniel Zhang, who was preparing to take charge of a subsidiary on Monday, will finally leave the group.

RTX, parent company of Pratt

German carmaker BMW (0.95%) has announced an investment of more than £600 million (€700 million) in the electrification of Minis in the UK and is aiming for 100% electric manufacturing at its factory. ‘Oxford from 2030.

The price of European natural gas was rising, pushed by disruptions in the supply of liquefied natural gas from Australia due to a strike.

Around 12:15 p.m. ET, the Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the European benchmark, was up 3.88% at 35.84 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).

On the oil side, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in November, gained 0.14% to $90.78. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in October, was stable (0.09%) at $87.59.

The two global black gold benchmarks are trading at their highest levels since November, pushed by the extension of production and export restrictions by Saudi Arabia and Russia until the end of the year.

On the foreign exchange market, the dollar fell 0.52% to 1.0756 dollars to the euro and lost 0.56% against the pound to 1.2540 dollars to the pound.